


Clumsy

by digitaldreams



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Angst, F/M, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Revelations, Wrote this on a whim, also i love bernie so much, i love them both so much, listen yuridetta/bernayuri is my new obsession so you gotta read about it, no beta we die like Glenn, sewer rat son, wow this one is kinda sad, yuri is a sewer rat but he's my son
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-19
Updated: 2020-02-19
Packaged: 2021-02-28 03:55:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22807444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/digitaldreams/pseuds/digitaldreams
Summary: Yuri always just thought she was clumsy.~~~~~Yuri woke up in the middle of the night due to nightmares, and he put the pieces together about the truth Bernadetta never explained to him.
Relationships: Yuris Leclair | Yuri Leclerc/Bernadetta von Varley
Comments: 12
Kudos: 169





	Clumsy

Yuri always just thought she was clumsy.

His time in the Varley estate had him seeing many times when Bernadetta appeared to him with a variety of bruises mottling her porcelain skin. Scratches like fingers raked upon her arm rose, though she would always hide them under long sleeves. Unmistakable signs of pressure around her small, frail wrist made Yuri shift uncomfortably, but he never dared to bring it up.

When he asked for an explanation, Bernadetta would use the same damn excuse each time. _"I'm just clumsy!"_ Her voice shook as the three words she was so used to speaking left her lips again and again. Yuri would look her over, not experienced enough in faith magic to help her. Bernadetta would tear herself away from him, insisting that they play something. He would go along with it, not wanting to upset her, and the wounds would go unspoken up until the next time she stumbled around with a strain in her ankle or twist to her arm. 

Yuri looked back on those days with an odd sort of fondness, and he learned that Bernadetta felt the same. Even if his mission had been to kill her, he got attached, which was his biggest mistake, but his greatest success at the same time. He had missed her in the years they were apart, and it manifested after they reunited countless years later.

However, one thing stuck out to Yuri when they met face to face once again.

Bernadetta was just as clumsy as she had been when she was a child, but there were nowhere near as many horrible injuries. In fact, they had entirely disappeared, replaced by only traces of scars. He had been around her enough to know how much she accidentally hurt herself, and looking back on it, he knew that the bruises didn't match up with her supposed tripping or bumping into cabinets. The injuries were too severe, and it was clear looking back that somebody had hurt her intentionally. 

Yuri knew just as well as everyone else that abuse existed. Hell, he might have been even more aware of it than others due to his bleak past. Jobs had led him through dark places, and some of them involved wounds he preferred to forget. His whole body was covered with more scars than he could count due to employers taking advantage of the power they had over him. As much as he longed to forget them, he would never be able to. Nightmares of past abuses lingered just out of reach whenever he shut his eyes no matter how much he tried to forget.

But she was supposed to be different.

Bernadetta was a strange source of light in a world that tried to smother any positivity Yuri had in his life. Her awkward smile was his everything when the universe was trying to crash around him. The quirky curl of her bangs when she didn't brush her hair, the small indent where her dimple was, and the brightness that appeared in her eyes when he was around... He could never forget her because of all she had done for him without even knowing it. The world was dark, but Bernadetta's light could keep it at bay, even if only for a while. 

It wasn't until one night years later as the war between Adrestia and Faerghus raged on that Yuri thought about the night he was thrown from the Varley estate with a pragmatic, inquiring lens. He remembered the fervor with which Bernadetta's father had attacked him, and it wasn't something brought about by adrenaline alone. No, there was practice in those blows. At the time, Yuri had been trying to block everything out, to dissociate from the pain, to not feel _anything_ , but he couldn't forget forever.

The attacks were practiced on the person who had lit up his world when the sun didn't even bother trying. It explained so much. Bernadetta had seemed so confused when Yuri mentioned that her father had defended her, and this was why. Yuri's injuries were far more gruesome than he would have expected from a man who never stepped onto a battlefield. The pieces fit together too perfectly, and the realization made his stomach twist into a cruel knot.

Bernadetta was supposed to be different. Why the hell wasn't she different? What had made her father think that she deserved such pain? Yuri had done horrible things in his life, so he probably deserved that as karmic retribution for some unlamented sin somewhere down the line, but Bernadetta wasn't like him. She was kind, caring, and, most of all, the one who gave Yuri hope.

Her nervous attitude from when they reunited made more sense too. Bernadetta's father never acted when Yuri was around, but she didn't have him as a shield anymore. She locked herself in her room to keep her father out since her door was the only blockade she had once Yuri was thrown out of her life after a midnight assassination attempt.

Yuri's fist was clenched tightly as he made his way to her room. He had been awoken late that night by a brutal recollection of the night her father had attacked him. From there, the pieces kept fitting together until it all spiraled out of control. It hurt him to know that she had suffered in such horrible ways when she didn't deserve it. She had only ever been sweet to others, and this was how the universe repaid her? It was sickening.

Yuri had a spare key to Bernadetta's room, something she had entrusted him with a few nights ago. This honor wasn't shared by many, but Yuri was relieved to have one after coming to this sudden conclusion. He knew that she wouldn't want to talk about it, but he just had to know. His curiosity was nothing if not insatiable, and something deep in his core needed to hear it from her what had happened.

Upon arriving, Yuri heard soft sobs from the other side of the door. It seemed he wasn't the only one plagued by nightmares that night. He pulled the key to her room from his pocket and jammed it into the lock, opening the door soon after. 

Bernadetta didn't look up, instead staring down at her feet. She was curled into a ball, her head shoved in between her knees, as she cried quietly. Yuri could tell by the change of her posture that she had heard him come in, but she didn't move to boot him out. 

Bernadetta looked up, tears streaking down her face. For a fleeting moment, Yuri remembered how she had been when they were kids. A large red mark had appeared on her cheek that looked an awful lot like a handprint that day. She had come running to Yuri crying, though she never explained to him what happened. A protective sensation swelled in his chest at the sight, but he didn't act on it. His job was to keep from getting attached back then, though he kicked himself now for not convincing her to be open about it. 

The expression on her face all those years ago was the same as her current one. Yuri's heart sunk, and he missed her regular smile. She deserved better than all this trauma, baggage, and pain. Why the _fuck_ did the goddess see her fit to be harmed in this way?

Yuri didn't say a word, instead just wrapping an arm around her shoulders. Bernadetta was tense at first, but she slumped over into his grasp soon after. He tightened the embrace before he knew what he was doing, feeling warmth run through his body as she clung to his torso gently. He handled her cautiously, not wanting to step too far when she was clearly suffering. 

Yuri looked down at her shaking body, and questions swirled in his mind. How many times had she been hurt by her father? How many times had she been awoken in the middle of the night by the terrors of her own trauma? How many times had her body been turned to a blue and purple shell of itself because some damn monster decided she wasn't good enough?

He was filled with a sickening sense of relief when he looked over her bare legs and saw no bruises. She no longer covered them as she had when they were young. She had no reason to. Bernadetta's arms were still hidden, perhaps out of habit or perhaps to hide scars from years prior, but this was a step in the right direction. Yuri didn't want her to be hurt at all, but this was somewhere to start in easing her away from horror. 

It was impossible to judge how long Yuri stayed there, just sitting with Bernadetta in the darkness. The wildlife outside seemed to go still, and nothing broke the silence aside from Bernadetta's soft cries. Yuri kept his arm on the small of her back. When they were kids, that had always calmed her down when she was upset, and judging by how she was relaxing, it held true even now.

Yuri looked for the door, frowning to himself. As soon as he got the chance to sneak away from Garreg Mach, he had a mission to take care of. Last time he had been to the Varley estate, his mission had been to kill Bernadetta. However, this time, he would be going to kill her pathetic excuse of a father. He should have stopped breathing ages ago, and since he was still alive, it was Yuri's job to extinguish him. As far as Yuri was concerned, it was about damn time that he died. 

For the time being though, Yuri kept Bernadetta close to him. He took in everything about the situation, focused on comforting her above making a typical snarky remark. She was more important than that. After they were finished there, he would start scheming for his next move. 

As long as he was around, Bernadetta would never need to use the clumsy excuse again. She never should have needed it in the first place, but now that he knew, he was going to ensure it was unnecessary from that point on. Even if she was clumsy, she shouldn't have ever needed to say that was the case to protect her damn father. If nobody else was going to take care of him, Yuri would do it. It was the least he could do for the one source of hope in his formerly dark life. 

**Author's Note:**

> I LOVE THESE TWO SO MUCH GOD
> 
> I wrote this one on a random whim since I felt like it. Listen, there's not enough content of them, so I'll make some myself. Also, Yuri is secretly a softie, and you can't convince me otherwise. This ship is too good for existence. 
> 
> This is my first writing for Three Houses (at least my first one using canon characters since I don't know if Alternative counts here), but I'm hoping to do more later on. Edeleth is another obsession of mine, and I love Edelgard with my whole heart, so you can expect some stuff about her later on. 
> 
> If you want to read some of my other stuff, I am sorry to say that there's no other Yuridetta on my page (at least not yet). I do write some other Fire Emblem fan fiction including short prose stories and a full rewrite of Fire Emblem Fates. I also did some supports for Path of Radiance if that happens to pique your interest. 
> 
> Blatant self-advertisement aside, I hope you enjoyed! I'm going to come back to these two again one day, so you can look forward to that for sure. Until then, farewell!
> 
> -Digital


End file.
